2008-2009: All Hail Kraft-durch-Freude-Stadt!

BUNDESLIGA

This proved to be a very exciting season, as several teams challenged for the title, and of course the relegation struggle
was as fierce as ever. In the end, VfL Wolfsburg sensationally stood at the pinnacle, their first championship ever!

The early season was all about the sensational play of promoted Hoffenheim, who took the Bundesliga by storm. Physical,
attack-oriented play led Hoffenheim to fly to the top of the table. This created a lot of jealousy among loser fans of
other clubs, enviously whining about "moneybags" Hoffenheim sugar-daddy Dietmar Hopp. However, the club's success was
largely due to their enthusiasm, young talent (evidenced by striker Vedad Ibisevic's 18 goals in the first 17 games) - and
catching their opponents off guard. After the winterbreak, teams had figured out the upstarts, and wins no longer came
easy. They limped home to a successful 7th place, probably disappointed they didn't do better.

Other teams that created furore were Hertha BSC and Hamburg, who despite less-than-stellar resources and play, managed to
grind out wins and challenge at the top. And of course, the big-bad-wolf, Bayern München stumbled and bumbled, but was
always lurking to defend their title. Rookie coach Jürgen Klinsmann suffered with every Bayern brain-fart, until he was
finally canned with a few games left. Bayern's main problem was hardly Klinsi, but rather that with the exception of
superstar Franck Ribery, the players hardly seemed bothered to go out and win games, but expected everybody to bow down
and kiss their feet. Klinsi was unable to kick their asses, and Bayern looked very beatable at times. VfB Stuttgart came
roaring back with a brilliant stretch run, enough to make the Champions League. But the story ended up
to be VfL Wolfsburg, with their deadly attack duo of Grafite and Dzeko, and the brilliant leadship of head coach Felix
Magath. The VWs came out firing after winterbreak, and proved to be unstoppable. They entered the year as perhaps the
least popular Bundesliga team ever, but they certainly gained tons of fans with their attacking play.

Borussia Dortmund put in a decent performance under new coach Jürgen Klopp, and seem to have recovered from the financial
and sporting malaise. Schalke continued to disappoint, and Werder Bremen was the most schizoprenic team, up and down. They
did end up winning the DFB-Cup and losing UEFA Cup finalist, some solace after their crap season.

In relegation, the biggest surprise was that promoted 1. FC Köln was never really in much danger of sinking, managing to
grind out points when needed. Bielefeld, you got to love em. They keep on adding to their record as the most relegated
Bundesliga team ever (or maybe it's Nürnberg, can't remember)...and we all know they'll be back for more soon enough.

As usual, the promotion spots were hard fought in the very balanced 2.Liga. In the end, there were no real surprises, as
the pre-season favorites largely ended up on top. Freiburg looked indifferent, but then noticed that everybody else was
dicking around, so they started grinding out wins, and before they knew it, were crowned champs. Mainz was always
hovering, and in the end held on to 2nd. Nürnberg was rebuilding amidst relegation-shock, and started poorly, but they
started winning down the stretch, without overly impressing.

There were a few disappointments. 1860 certainly hoped to be a
contender, but they pretty much sucked all year. Relegated Hansa Rostock probably hoped to at least be in striking
distance of the playoffs, but instead they stunk. It took a strong end run by Hansa to save their ass and avoid
relegation. The relegated squads in Wehen and Ingolstadt were basically lame all year, with a couple of bright moments.
FSV Frankfurt was a bit of a surprise, as they were dead last at winterbreak, but an energetic 2nd half proved to be just
enough to save themselves. Koblenz managed to survive a difficult relegation battle despite a points deduction.

The end year playoffs proved to be a mixed bag. Nürnberg crushed Cottbus, and returned to the Bundesliga. Osnabrück
however lost to Paderborn, and were relegated.

The inaugural 3.Liga season was hardly the commercial success that the DFB was looking for, although from a competition
standpoint, the quality of play and balance was encouraging.

The outstanding club was Union Berlin, who quickly established that they were a contender, and then put together a long
unbeaten streak mid-season to basically run away with the title. A fierce battle developed between Düsseldorf, Paderborn
and Unterhaching for promotion, and in the end, Unterhaching was left out - and objectively, they were the weakest of the
three. Paderborn did the 3.Liga proud, as they then proceeded to upend 2.Liga VfL Osnabrück in the playoffs and gain
promotion
as well.

Kickers Emden was an early pacesetter, but they fell off drastically down the home stretch. This was clearly not a success
story on the financial side, and Kickers management was debating whether to accept a voluntary relegation, as they
pondered not to apply for another 3.Liga license.

The relegation battle was very tight, although Stuttgarter Kickers got off to a very poor start, which proved to be
insurmountable. In the end, Burghausen and Aalen go down, deservedly so, and surely not to be lamented.

The main unfortunate season outcome was that none of the Bundesliga "II" teams got relegated, which means more death at
the box-office.

The new Regionalligen are cluttered with worthless "II" teams sucking down fan attendance. The most interesting was
probably the north, where on the last day Kiel secured the title, as Halle were beaten at home in a regional derby by
Plauen. None of the ex-Bundesliga clubs (Essen, Münster, Waldhof, Ulm, Mannheim) managed to move up. Of course, they
are undoubtedly happier than Uerdingen, Wattenscheid, Saarbrücken, Homburg, Neunkirchen, Tasmania, Blau-Weiss etc, who
are a division lower. Good news is that Tennis Borussia is moving up...